Royal Benevolent Institution For Aged Masons And Their Widows.

Bro . the REV . J . HUYSHE rose to return thanks on the part of the Grand Officers , and said that it required no words from him to eulogise the way in which the Deputy Grand Master had performed his duties . The Craft , indeed , were deepty indebted to that nobleman for what he had done , and they had done nothing but what they ought in drinking his health . As Grand Officers they would endeavour to do their duty as honest Englishmen and faithful Freemasons , in any position to which

the Grand Master might please to call them ; and he thanked them cordially for tlie maimer in which the toast had been received . The C ' H . vniniAN , in proposing the toast of the evening , said : — Ladies and Brethren—The Charity whose Festival we celebrate this day owes its origin to the exertions of two well-known members of the craft , Brothers Crucifix and Walton , tho former founding the asylumand the latter suggesting the scheme of an

, annuity society ; and the annuity society was accordingly established in t ! ie year 1812 , under the auspices of our late Grand Master , the Duke of Sussex . These two Charities , which had for some years been estranged , became united in 1 S 50 , and much about the same time the Widows' Fund was established . During the time which has elapsed since those Institutions were founded , there have been afforded relief to 202 aged men aud

71 aged willows , in a sum of no less than . 62-1 , 000 , and after paying all legitimate expenses , we have been enabled to invest a further sum of £ 22 , 000 . ( Loud cheers . ) There are now on tlie list 78 aged brethren and 50 widows , who receive annuities amounting in the aggregate to the sum of £ 2700 per annum . ( Hear , hear . ) Towards the payment of that large sum we have on the one hand the interest ofthe money invested , and in the second

place we have au annual sum of £ 050 granted hy the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter , and for the remainder we are dependent on tire contributions received from you at these Festivals . For the building we have also a sustentation fund , which amounts to about £ 1000 . The annuitants reside where they please , but if they prefer it they are allowed to live rent-free in the asylum at Croydon , where there is accommodation , for 34 , hut at present there are only 27 inmates . Such is the present history and progress of our institution . I now turn to the future , not however , with any reference to the present recipients , but

to others who are the expectants of your bounty . At the present time there are 51 candidates , and four more whose cases are under consideration , but I deeply regret to say that there are but 12 vacancies , and therefore it is not only on behalf of the 128 recipients who are now the objects of your care , but of the 58 expectants , that it becomes my duty to address yon . ( Hear , hear . ) I do so with a strong feeling of diffidence and with a serious sense of tho responsibility cast upon me in

accepting this post , lest through any shortcomings on my part the result of this evening ' s proceedings should be less than you have a right to expect . I will not conceal from myself that I labour under great difficulties , but I trust with confidence upon your kindness to assist me . ( Hear , hear . ) I have seen this chair occupied by noblemen , and those who have been specially distinguished by our Sovereign , but I do not fear on that ground ,

for I feel assured that you would never have allowed me to take the post I now occupy unless you intended to support me in it . ( Loud cheers . ) I fear not either , because I am one of yourselves , for , as one of the rank and file of Freemasonry , I am confident that you would not allow me to fail , or the proceeds to fall much short of what has been hitherto realised . ( Cheers . ) Another great difficulty which presents itself to my mind is the

fact that you have lately been largely taxed , and nobly have you replied in your private lodges and by your other contributions towards the relief of that wide-spread calamity which has fallen upon a portion of our countrymen , but even in this respect I feel no fear . I trust to tbe elasticity of your charity , and I place confidence in your benevolence , for there is no country in the world equal to Englandand there is no body of men who

, dispense so large an amount of charity as Freemasons . ( Cheers . ) I find that last year your subscriptions to the three charities amounted to £ 10 , 500 , and that quite irrespective of the Fund of Benevolence and subscriptions in your private lodges . I may say that I have just heard with pleasure from Bro . Bannister that in West Lancashire they have a benevolent fund of £ 1000 , and in DevonshireI am told hy Bro . Huyshe they have a fund of a

, similar amount . You have , however , not confined your benevolence to our own Order , for you most liberally contributed to the Indian Mutiny and Patriotic Fund , and lately we witnessed the unanimous vote of £ 1000 towards relieving the distress of the operatives of the North . ( Cheers . ) Therefore I say that I

may well feel a laudable pride in being a member of so ancient and honourable a society , and one so eminently charitable as you are . ( Loud cheers . ) The sacred volume impresses upon us the duty of relieving the stranger within our gates , but it is as imperative upon us to provide for our poor brethren admitted to our order as to relieve the wants of others . We received them when they were in prosperity , and it is our duty to protect them in adversity ; and it is by no

accident of birth , but by our free choice , that they are our accepted brothers . ( Loud cheers . ) We have a duty cast upon us to find funds for their relief , but we have a second duty , which is to see that there is a just discrimination used iu the distribution of your charity , lest through our neglect those who are deserving might go unrelieved . ( Renewed cheers . ) There is one point upon which I will venture to make a remark , and in doing so I will at once say that I address no individual

here present , but it will apply to others far away . Tlie point to which I wish to allude is , I say it with regret , that the funds which support such enormous charities should come out of so few pockets . Thos B charities are mainly supported by those who are present , and a smaller number 'who are absent , and therefore I say that I desire to see those contributions come out of a greater number of pockets . ( Hear , hear . ) There has been

a change to some extent in this respect , which I attribute partly to the publicity which has been given to the claims of these charities by THE FrtEEr . r . ASONs' MAGAZINE , and partly to the exertions of the officers ; and I now think it but right to pay my tribute of respect to the officers of those charities for what they have done . ( Cheers . ) I am aware that this is not one of the most interesting of your charities , for I cannot place on the dais the little girls with their pleasing looks , or

the little boys with their chubby faces rubicund with health , and educated and maintained by your bounty , whose looks would appeal strongly to your sympathy and support , but mine is a more serious duty , but I hope it will not suffer upon that ground . When we contemplate the helplessness of childhood , there is in those seasons of youth an augury of the future , aud we become absorbed in hope , yet with respect to age , there is something very touching in the bare thought of growing old , but there is somethimg more serious in finding that as we are

growing older we are growing poorer , and no one can , but those who have experienced it , judge of the painful sting of being reduced to unexpected poverty . ( Loud Cheers . ) A writer , though an anonymous one , but one who knew the human heart well , has told us that age loses half its cares if the man grows richer as he grows older , and if he can , as it were , make his way and go up hill ; but what is it if we look at the contrast . The gouty rich man as he hobbles to his carriage thinks perhaps of the

time when he was free from gout and had less gold , but see him now . Although the gout may cast a shade over him , still his face is rubicund , he is hale and hearty , the world looks up to him , and he is able to relieve the wants of others , rnd if he looks back to the time when he was free from gout , he will remember lie had no crrriage to carry him on his way . On the other hand look at him who started at the same timebut is unfortunate in the race of lifewho instead

, , of going up has been coining clown hill , who , as he has grown in age has grown poorer , and is compelled in poverty to eke out a wretched and painful existence . Follow that man to his home , and in our great metropolis you will find that a narrow street , or in some cases merely a brick wall separates the most wretched poverty from costly affluence , and you will see him sitting alone in his lonely and cheerless lodging ,

meditating on his poverty , sad from remembrance of past enjoy ment or reflections on misused prosperity . There is no springtime for him , but all is dark and and hopeless winter . ( Hear , hear . ) Then look at tlie poor widow , who has hitherto been carefully nurtured and happy in her home of some well-to-do brother . She is now a widow , alone in her poverty , but it is your mission to carry comfort and consolation to her wretched home . As the land is approached the struggling and

shipwrecked mariner is infused with a new love of life , so may your bounty , like the sounds of distant bells in the breeze , bring comfort to aged Freemasons or their widows who have suffered shipwreck in the voyage of life . ( Loud and continued cheering . ) Brethren , I ask you for your help , not because it is the fate of that poor brother , and to-morrow may be yours , but because I know that your generous hearts will , apart from any unworthy consideration , give liberally , and , like true Freemasons , with no othea reward than that which flows from your own consciences , or that reward which one dav vou will receive from